After three straight games of failing to hit the 70-point mark, the Barton women’s basketball team found its offense Saturday night. At least somewhat.
The Cougars used a big second quarter then held on in the final period for a 76-69 win over Colby at the Barton Gym.
With the win, the Cougars moved into third place in the Jayhawk West at 6-3. Barton is 13-5 overall. Colby falls to 3-7 in the conference and 8-10 overall.
“It was better,” Coach Alan Clark said of his team’s offense. “We shot better than 50 percent and we got the free throw line. That was good. We still need to compete for 40 minutes, though.”
Barton had been averaging more than 80 points per game before suffering back-to-back losses in which the Cougars never got out of the 60’s. In the most recent outing, Barton scored a season-low in a 45-42 win at Dodge City.
While it wasn’t a game in the 80’s, it was the best offensive effort in two weeks for Barton.
Richelle Turney was the catalyst that got the offense going for the Cougars.
The freshman from California entered four minutes into the game with the Cougars down 6-2. Barton’s only points in those first 4-plus minutes were a pair of Jaylin Stapleton free throws.
Turney immediately hit a runner then a scored a layup in her first minute of action to the tie game. Barton would go on to score 14 points in the final 5:40 of the period to take a 16-14 lead.
That would be the beginning of a big night for Turney.
The Cougars started to take control of things midway through the second quarter.
Fatou Ndao’s jumper with 6:30 left in the quarter gave Barton a 24-21 lead. That would start a big run for the Cougars.
Taylor Regan followed with a jumper, Irene Chukwudi scored back-to-back buckets on the inside and Regan hit another jumper as the Cougars went on a 10-0 run to take a 32-21 lead with 2:58 left.
After a pair of Colby tree throws, Barton was back at it, scoring the next eight points and when Stapleton hit a pair of free throws with one minute left in the half, Barton capped an 18-2 run and led 40-23.
Barton went to half up 41-27.
Colby was never able to make a move on the Cougars in the third as Barton led by at least 12 the entire quarter. When Turney hit back-to-back buckets late in the third, Barton had a 57-37 lead. The Cougars led 57-40 after three.
In the final quarter, the Trojans made things a bit interesting, cutting the lead to 67-58 with 4:22 left in the game. It was the first time since the 18-2 run in the second quarter the game was in single digits.
Colby whittled the lead down to 75-69 after a 3-pointer by Jordan Dixon but at that point there were only 24 seconds left in the game.
Turney finished with a career-high 25. It was the fifth time in six games she reached double figures off the bench. Her previous career-high was a 20-point output two games back against Pratt.
“She gets 20 against Pratt and gets 25 tonight,” Coach Clark said. “She has the ability to score. She is coming around in other aspects of the game.”
Stapleton made it to the free throw line 14 times, hitting 10 on her way to 19 points. Regan recorded her first double-double in a month with 11 points and 11 rebounds on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field.
It was Regan’s seventh double-double on the season. The sophomore from Otis-Bison went over 500 career points in the win.
Jordan Dixon scored 19 to lead the Trojans.
Barton will travel to the winless Northwest Tech Mavericks Wednesday. NW Tech is 0-10 in the Jayhawk and 0-18 overall after losing to Garden City Wednesday. Tip will be 6:30 p.m. central time.
BARTON 76, COLBY 69
Colby 14 13 13 29 – 69
Barton 16 25 16 19 – 76
COLBY (8-10, 3-7)–Grayson 0-4 0-0 0, Williams 5-8 1-2 11, Guillory 5-13 5-7 18, Scales 2-6 2-2 6, Bethel 3-8 4-4 10, Dixon 5-9 6-8 19, Knight 0-4 0-0 0, Mobley 1-6 2-2 5 . Totals 21-58 19-23 69.
BARTON (13-5, 6-3)–Turney 10-16 4-6 25, Stapleton 4-10 10-14 19, Regan 5-5 1-2 11, Ndao 3-6 3-4 9,Miller 2-4 0-0 6, Chukwudi 3-8 0-0 6, Hunt 0-2 0-0 0, White 0-0 0-0 0, Keith 0-1 0-0 0, Dirks 0-0 0-0 0, Davis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 27-52 18-26 76.
3-pointers–Colby 8-15 (Guillory 3-4, Dixon 3-4, Williams 1-2, Mobley 1-2, Knight 0-3), Barton 4-11 (Miller 2-4, Turney 1-2, Stapleton 1-4, Keith 0-1). Rebounds–Colby 35 (Guillory 9), Barton 36 (Regan 11). Assists–Colby 7 (3 with 2), Barton 11 (Stapleton 6). Blocks– Barton 7 (Chukwudi 4). Turnovers–Colby 9, Barton 9.
JAYHAWK WEST WOMEN
Hutchinson 10-0 19-0
Seward County 9-1 17-2
Barton 6-3 13-5
Pratt 6-4 13-5
Garden City 5-5 10-9
Dodge City 4-6 9-10
Colby 3-7 8-10
NW Tech 0-10 0-18
JAYHAWK EAST WOMEN
Butler 9-2 18-2
Cowley 7-3 16-4
Cloud County 6-5 13-7
Neosho County 3-6 6-14
Independence 3-7 8-9
Coffeyville 3-8 4-16
Allen County 1-8 3-16
SATURDAY
Barton 76, Colby 69
Butler 65, Independence 62
Coffeyville 89, Allen County 63
Garden City 73, NWK Tech 58
Hutchinson 69, Pratt 38
Seward 63, Dodge City 51
Cowley 93, Cloud 75
MONDAY
Seward 99, Neosho 83
WEDNESDAY
Barton at NW Tech, 6:30 p.m.
Butler at Neosho
Cloud at Allen
Coffeyville at Independence
Hutchinson at Dodge City
Pratt at Garden City
Seward County at Colby
